The present invention relates to wind propelled watercraft, and more particularly, to a watercraft having a substantially tetrahedral frame and three buoyant support members which together form an equilateral triangle.
One prior art sailing vessel employing a rigid frame which is generally tetrahedral is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,664. In one embodiment, the frame comprises six interconnected tubular members defining a triangular base connected to three buoyant support members and three triangular sides connected at an apex. In another embodiment, a lower tetrahedral frame made of similar members has a vertical mast connected to the apex thereof and is supported by a plurality of stays connected to the three corners of the triangular base.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,694 discloses a semi-rigid wind propelled vessel wherein the mast is similarly connected to the apex of a tetrahedral frame and is supported by a plurality of stays connected to the corners of the triangular base of the frame.
Watercraft utilizing a substantially tetrahedral frame are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,316,424, 4,333,412 and 4,524,709 issued to Quentin M. McKenna, the inventor of record herein.
Various problems have been associated with the prior art tetrahedral frame watercraft. Generally, because only a single point of the tetrahedral frame is connected to a respective buoyant support member, a sufficiently reliable, yet flexible connection between the tetrahedral frame and the respective buoyant support member has not been heretofore provided.
Furthermore, a sufficiently inexpensive yet reliable steering system has not heretofore been provided. The prior steering systems have generally been costly to manufacture and have been unreliable due to the overall structure and the chafing of the steering reins.
Other problems of the past structures include insufficient storage space and the lack of an inexpensive yet reliable and efficient method of tying the back portion of the sail in various positions.